Thursday, February 25, 2016

There is a leadership maxim, "You don't get the leader you need, you get the leader you deserve." We deserve Donald Trump.

Trump's basic political strategy is to out-insult his opposition. As soon as someone disagrees with him they go from being a "nice guy" or a "good person" to being an idiot. Has any other poltical candidate in history promised to ban one-third of the world's population (Muslims), promised a sovergin nation will pay for a wall to be built (Mexico), called for a national ban of a company (Apple), used profanity on national TV (multiple times), made fun of a person with a disability (a news reporter), been a no show for a debate (Fox), or said he wanted to hit someone at his rally (last week)? I don't know of a candidate who has done one of those things, much less all of them. Trump has been so over the top that we have all seemingly forgotten that he first made his named in politics as a birther!

But that's what we deserve. Because we live in a country where Barak Obama is still sometimes called a Muslim, where some Christians are called proponents of hate-speech while others are told they aren't real Christians because they're pro-gay, liberals socialists or communists and conservatives are called fascists, Facebook arguments are intense enough that if they were in person people may come to blows, and otherwise reasonable people can't even agree on basic facts (are gun deaths higher or lower in states with strong gun control? I don't know, but it can't be both!) The Church has been called the most segregated place on a Sunday morning - and it probably is - but we have become even more ideologically segregated. Those who agree with me must be right and those who disagree with me must be wrong. Fox has nothing but conservatives and CNN has nothing but liberals. I"m not even sure how I'm supposed to label the personalities on MSNBC now, but I do know there is a label. There's a label for everyone.

We deserve Donald Trump. We created Donald Trump. Whether you believe he would be a great president or a lousy president (and I know you believe he would be one or the other becasue nobody can just be average or ok or mediocre any more), we have all allowed a culture of division and discord to dominate.

Donald Trump has mastered the art of divide and conquer politics. And that's why we deserve him. He has mastered in a short time what the rest of us have been practicing for years.

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About Me

I'm thrilled to be Tracy's husband and the father of two amazing girls. I'm the Senior Pastor at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Lenexa, KS. If you're looking for a community that is open to all and celebrates God's amazing grace this may be the place for you.